


The Oathkeeper Foundation

by LadyRhiyana



Series: The One Where They Work in an Office [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: 12 Days of Christmas, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Lannister-style gift-giving and philanthropy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:20:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21790687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyRhiyana/pseuds/LadyRhiyana
Summary: Two days ago, she’d received a letter informing her that ownership of a pear orchard in the Reach had been transferred into her name.Yesterday it had been two cooing turtledoves in a gold cage.“What is it today?” Jaime asked. “Something to do with hens?”
Relationships: Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth
Series: The One Where They Work in an Office [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1578496
Comments: 59
Kudos: 268
Collections: Sevenmas & Other Winter Holidays





	The Oathkeeper Foundation

**Author's Note:**

> Please enjoy some ridiculous fluffiness. As ever, impulsive and un-beta'd.

12 months ago

Just before Sevenmas

**

Tucked away on the twenty-fifth floor of the steel and glass monolith that was Lanniscorp HQ – not the highest floor, but high enough to be almost at executive rank – was the small group of offices and cubicles that was the home of the Corporate Wellness team. 

“Corporate Wellness” was a rather vague and undefined concept. The team had been created after a company-wide audit identified that the overworked – albeit very well paid – employees were not particularly proud of their employment. 

There was no feeling of employee ownership, the survey found. They didn’t _believe_ in Lanniscorp. They worked there because they were very well paid and there was plenty of opportunity for advancement, for those who were ruthless and ambitious enough. 

“I don’t require them to believe in me,” Tywin Lannister said, in response to the findings. “So long as they do their jobs. Isn’t it enough that they are well paid?”

Even so, the survey recommended the creation of a Corporate Wellness team, to raise company morale and foster a sense of shared purpose and identity. 

Enter Brienne Tarth, headhunted from Stark Industries and brought in to head up the new team. 

** 

She took two weeks to settle in and generally get a feel for the company. 

At the beginning of the third week, she was invited to report to the fortnightly meeting of the senior executive team. 

“There is a general sense among the employees that Lanniscorp cares only for profit,” she said, standing before the CEO, the COO and CFO, the heads of Legal and HR and other important divisions. “The employees don’t think we are doing enough for the environment, or to foster community engagement in our initiatives.” 

“Community engagement?” Tywin Lannister raised his brows and pinned her with a cold green gaze. “Ms Tarth, we are a corporation. We are in the business of making a profit. Our reputation is built on it.”

She stood her ground. “Yes, Lanniscorp has a reputation for profit. But it also has a reputation for ruthlessness. To be quite frank, our customers don’t like us. The community doesn’t like us. The media doesn’t like us.” 

“The shareholders love us, though,” said the CFO, Tyrion Lannister. “Some would say they’re the only ones who matter.” He was grinning widely. “Ms Tarth, we are not in the business of being liked.” 

“Profit isn’t everything,” Brienne said stubbornly. “We could be more than what we are. Lanniscorp has so much heritage. The gold lion meant something, once – the Lannisters were kings once, the greatest house in the Westerlands. If we could give back to the community, build it up instead of simply exploiting it –” 

“With respect, Ms Tarth,” Kevan Lannister, the COO said. “I realise you have spent the last five years in Winterfell with the Starks. Perhaps you don’t realise that the Kings of the Rock were not in the business of giving back to the community, either.”

She lifted her chin. “I believe a corporation such as Lanniscorp, with all our resources and wealth, has an obligation to act with honour.”

She had lost them, she knew. She could see it in their barely supressed amusement and disdain, the shifting of their focus to the next item on the agenda. 

And then someone else spoke. 

“Ms Tarth,” a smooth voice drawled, “what would you do if you were given carte blanche?” 

She blinked. The speaker was Jaime Lannister, Twyin’s eldest son and Lanniscorp’s chief enforcer. 

The miners at Castamere were striking? Tywin sent Jaime to fix the problem, not caring how. Pirates were harassing the red-hulled Lanniscorp cargo ships? Jaime Lannister dealt with them with ruthless efficiency. 

Gathering her composure, she began to lay out her plans. They included community stakeholder meetings, better environmental practices and sustainable energy for a start. 

“Ms Tarth, you are building castles in the air,” Kevan Lannister said impatiently. “Where are your specifics? Where is the money for all these grand plans to come from?” 

Jaime Lannister leaned over to his brother, Tyrion, and whispered in his ear. Tyrion raised his brows, consulted some figures and scrawled something down on a piece of paper. 

Jaime cleared his throat. “Out of my operating budget, uncle,” he said. “Twenty-two million, seven hundred thousand, four hundred and thirty-seven dragons.” He smiled at Brienne, sharp and ironic. “And fifty coppers.” 

Tywin Lannister stared at his son, silent and unblinking. 

“If that is what you wish,” he said. 

**

[Overjoyed, Brienne was oblivious to the undercurrents. But how was she to know that Jaime’s 22 million dragons was the entire amount of the money left to him by his mother, invested for 24 years since her death and never touched?

She used the money to create the Oathkeeper Foundation.]

** 

Present Day

**

A knock sounded on the door of the corner office, and Pia, her administrative assistant, poked her head in.

“There’s a courier for you, Ms Tarth,” she said, her eyes sparkling. “I wonder what it is this time.” 

Brienne sighed. Two days ago, she’d received a letter from the senior partner of an elite and very expensive legal firm, informing her that ownership of a pear orchard in the Reach had been transferred into her name. Baffled, she’d called the senior partner to confirm – no, they told her, it was not a scam, it was all entirely above board. 

Yesterday, when two cooing turtledoves in a gold cage had been delivered to the office, she’d begun to suspect that someone was messing with her. 

“What is it today, Ms Tarth?” Jaime asked. “Something to do with hens?” 

She shot him a quelling look, but he only laughed. He was sprawled on the leather sofa on his half of the office, rumpled and unshaven and devastatingly attractive, as always. 

Because he had given her his entire operating budget, Tywin Lannister had made Jaime Co-Manager of the Corporate Wellness team. He shared an office with Brienne – their nameplates were exactly side by side on the door – and had brought Pia and his assistant Peck with him in the move from Security. 

He spent most of his time out of Lannisport, putting out fires. Most days Brienne was alone in their shared office. Sometimes, though, she would arrive in the morning to find him asleep at his desk, unshaven and shaggy. Sometimes his knuckles were bloodstained. Sometimes his normal quick humour grew vicious and cutting, and she knew that wherever he had been and whatever he had done, it had been very bad indeed. 

Sometimes, like today, he came in at a normal hour. 

She pushed herself up from her chair and signed for another letter. Tearing it open, she read in dismay that she had somehow acquired ownership of three Myrish poultry farms. 

“They must be battery hens,” Jaime said lazily. “Now you can rescue them and let them roam free.” 

Brienne sighed. “That’s not what the Oathkeeper Foundation was set up for,” she reminded him. 

“Isn’t it?” he asked. Yawning, he stretched himself out on the couch and closed his eyes. “Do it anyway. The hens at least will be grateful.” 

There was another side to Jaime, she had discovered. He wasn’t always an iron-fisted enforcer. Sometimes, he could be almost quixotic. 

An anonymous complaint from one of their factories in Essos was followed by the disappearance of a brutish overseer, never to be seen again. A woman coming to him in tears, her complaint of sexual harassment of a number of female employees by a senior executive – dismissed by HR – led to Jaime confronting the man over a perceived slight and putting him in hospital. 

He wasn’t nearly as bad as his reputation. She enjoyed his company, on those rare times he was in. He kept to his side of the office, made no demands on the staff and, aside from the odd jest, was always respectful. Most important of all, though – he did not ridicule her or her work. 

He believed in what she was doing. 

She would never forget the way he stood up for her at the meeting.

** 

[“You’re not fooling anyone, you know,” Tyrion said. “What is it tomorrow? A stretch of forest inhabited by an endangered species of songbirds?” 

Jaime made a face. “Something like that.” 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a company-wide betting pool,” his brother continued. 

“Tyrion –”

“You should be proud. It’s doing wonders for company morale.” 

Jaime sighed. “I don’t think that’s what Brienne intended.” 

“You gave her twenty-two million dragons so she could fulfil her dreams. A courting gift on such a grand scale, she couldn’t even comprehend it. And now you’re doing it again. Just talk to her. Please.” 

“But what if –?”

“Jaime. Brother. You were the only one to speak up for her at that meeting. Even now you’re the only one of us who really supports her initiatives. You don’t need to give her gifts. Trust me.”] 

** 

The next day, no courier arrived. 

Jaime asked her to go to lunch with him instead. They went to an eco-friendly café called _The Four Nightingales_ and Jaime offered her a golden ring.


End file.
